CPL: Patriots stun Tallawahs in historic chase to reach final’s doorstep

Jamaica Tallawahs’ Glenn Phillips’ whirlwind century was undone by a brazen late-order assault from St Kitts Patriots to put them one step closer to playing in their second final in Trinidad and Tobago come Sunday.

Phillips’ 103 illuminated the Eliminator which led Tallawahs to 191-5, but Patriots had the answers to chase the highest Twenty20 total at the National Stadium, Providence, on Wednesday evening in front of a sizable crowd.

Patriots kept abreast with the scoring despite constantly losing wickets at crucial intervals.  With 15 needed off the final over, Rovman Powell bowled his first over the match and yielding six runs off the first three balls including the vital wicket of the dangerous Carlos Brathwaite.

Pressure was still mounting and Powell sprayed it wide on four occasions, leaving Ben Cutting (17*) to smash the penultimate for six and it was goodbye to the two-time champions.

Anton Devcich was another key player with his 23-ball 50 (5x4s; 2x6s) since he stitched together two blistering partnerships. Along with Fabian Allen (23 from 10 balls) they added 56 in just 24 balls and then with Brandon King (21 from 8 balls) 39 from 16 which brought Patriots back into the fray after being 64-3 at the half way stage and Chris Gayle back in the hut.

Improved Powerplay

The previous night both Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders struggled to score more than 30 in the Powerplay. On the same pitch, Tallawahs blitzed to 49-1, compliments of the New Zealand pair of Philips and Ross Taylor.

Both continued with the attacking powers, capitalising on the inconsistent bowling. Taylor had breezed to 33 from 23 when he became too adventurous and was bowled by Ben Cutting. Despite the fluent 70-run partnership was ended, Philips kept all guns blazing, taking 20 runs off Cutting to reach his half-century off 39 balls.

Powell (15) and the powerful Andre Russell (10) played relatively expansive roles, but it was Phillips who rocketed along to first CPL century off 58 balls when he smashed Tabraiz Shamsi for a four in the 18th over.

The wicket-keeper/batsman fell off the final delivery of the innings after thumping nine fours and sixes; to move from fifty to a hundred, he took just 19 balls and helped his team score 56 in the final five overs.

Tallawahs now play Trinbago Knight Riders at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy on Friday from 20:00h to see who plays Guyana Amazon Warriors in the final on Sunday.